This is the shortest chapter yet and I apologize for that, because I leave you on some pretty intense cliffhangers. But have no fear, the next chapter is already written and will be up next week… so you won't have to wait around for six months wondering what happens next. Don't worry, my friends. It will all be explained. Eventually.
Also, I have decided against not posting next week... so make sure you tune in for your usual Tuesday and Friday updates.
The Perks of Being a Telepath
Chapter 14: Desperation
Erik spent the rest of the week locked up in a hotel room. Raven tried to talk to him, but he had flat out refused to so much as acknowledge the fact that she was there.
She tried to pretend that his actions didn't mean that Charles was in serious danger.
"Erik!"
It was six days after he had managed to escape and left Charles behind. Raven didn't blame Erik—she knew how idiotic her brother could be—but that didn't give him the right to blame them for not coming sooner.
There was silence, not that Raven had expected anything different. She had hoped, maybe, that Erik would have gotten over his temper tantrum by now and would become the leader they needed if they were going to rescue Charles.
Raven turned to walk away, to go find Sean and tell him that they were on their own. The muffled sound of footsteps coming toward the door stopped her.
The door creaked open and Erik stepped out. Raven gasped at the sight of him. Part of her had forgotten that he had been held prisoner too.
A dark bruise covered the entire right side of his face, crisscrossed with multiple cuts. His nose looked broken and his right eye was almost entirely swollen shut.
He blinked owlishly at her, folding his arms over his chest. From the way he was standing, it was clear that he had at least one broken rib.
"I know where Charles is."
His voice was rough and scratchy, though whether it was from lack of use or actual damage was almost impossible to tell.
Raven's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Charles. I know where he is."
Hank pushed the doors open with his foot before he let out a startled growl.
Charles peered over his shoulder and almost growled himself.
An entire army stood in the compound, their weapons locked and aimed at the three mutants.
"I can handle them."
Erik's whisper was barely audible, even to Charles, who had his ear almost directly in front of the German's mouth. The idea of Erik being able to use his powers in any shape was almost laughable.
"This is very not good."
Hank gave Charles a blank stare that clearly read no kidding, now what the hell do we do now?
Charles honestly did not have the answer for that. He could barely think past the dull throb that was growing in his head from keeping so many illusions—so completely pointless now—or the constant ache in all of his muscles from where he had been taking Erik's pain.
He was, in a word, fried.
Erik wasn't much better off—it went to show just how stubborn the metal wielder could be that he was conscious and mobile despite his injuries.
Charles would know.
Luckily, Charles was saved from having to reply to Hank's unspoken, unthought-of question by a large military truck screaming to a halt in between Hank, Charles, Erik, and the guards.
Charles didn't need to read the mind of the driver to recognize that overenthusiastic scream that belted from the cab of the car.
"He really did spend way too much time with Alex."
Charles nodded in agreement to Erik's statement, just as the guards decided to open fire on the truck.
Raven stepped inside Erik's motel room and was immediately stunned and slightly disturbed by what she found.
A large map of the eastern seaboard dominated one wall, with strings and thumbtacks crisscrossed all over it. Rough, but highly detailed sketches of multiple CIA and military men involved in rounding up the mutants were taped haphazardly to the wall beside the map. Large white folders with official looking stamps on them and scattered papers in several different languages littered the desk.
The bed alone had avoided the chaos that reigned the room. It looked as it was the one thing in the entire room that hadn't been touched.
Erik stood in the center of the mayhem, unshaven and bruised. He obviously hadn't been taking care of himself since Charles had been left behind.
Raven picked her way around a stack of books on the CIA—how Erik had gotten his hands on any of this was beyond her imagination—and sat in the desk chair. She stared at Erik, waiting for him to speak.
"He's here."
Erik pointed to a red tack positioned to the right of Langley, Virginia.
Raven didn't say anything, knowing that if she did, Erik would shut down and turn vigilante.
"It's one of their more secure bases. It's going to be almost impossible to break into. I have the schematics over there."
He gestured to a mass of papers on the left hand side of the desk. Raven glanced at them, noticing a section on the blueprint that had been circled and had a question mark beside it.
"What is that?"
"I don't know. It looks like a staircase, but that would be impossible. The building is only one floor."
Raven frowned.
"You don't think-."
She trailed off. Erik glanced away from the map, which he had been staring at hungrily, as if glaring at it would magically make Charles appear.
"What?"
Raven bit her lip.
"They took Hank. Just Hank. They had the chance to take me and Sean and a couple of the others, but they just took Hank."
Erik's face darkened.
"They're rebuilding Cerebro."
Raven's eyes widened at his matter of fact tone.
"How do you know that for sure?"
"Charles overheard the thoughts of the guards. They're rebuilding Cerebro to round the rest of us up and eliminate us."
Erik curled his hands into his fist and closed his eyes. Raven understood his anger, even if it terrified her. He had already been the victim of one genocide.
"What if he's not there?"
"Failure is not an option."
She shivered at the cold finality of his voice, but agreed with the sentiment. They could not lose Charles.